Quick Facts
Biography
Barbara S. Held is a psychologist and professor known for her research and publications in the fields of clinical psychology and theoretical/philosophical psychology. Her books to date include Back to Reality: A Critique of Postmodern Theory in Psychotherapy (1995), "Stop Smiling, Start Kvetching: A 5-Step Guide to Creative Complaining" (2001), "Psychology's Interpretive Turn: The Search for Truth and Agency in Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology" (2007), and two co-edited volumes, "Humanity's Dark Side: Evil, Destructive Experience, and Psychotherapy" (2013) and "Rational Intuition: Philosophical Roots, Scientific Investigations" (2015). She was President of the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology (APA Division 24) from 2008-2009, and recipient of the 2012 Joseph B. Glitter Award from the American Psychological Association recognizing her "scholarly contribution to the philosophical foundations of psychological knowledge." Currently, she is the Barry N. Wish Research Professor of Psychology and Social Studies at Bowdoin College, where she has taught since[ ].
Education
Held received her A.B degree from Douglass College, and her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Nebraska.
Research
Held's body of work reflects at least three related lines of inquiry, which have evolved over the course of her career. Her best-known work relates to her philosophical analysis and trenchant critiques of the positive psychology movement. Articles such as "The Negative Side of Positive Psychology" (2004) point out a number of different ways to conceptualize "negative" and "positive" behavior and attitudes from the standpoint of psychology, and suggest that the way positive psychology frames these concepts is potentially problematic and even oppressive. Her earliest line of research, beginning in the mid-1980s, applied an epistemological framework in evaluating the basis for constructivist family therapy approaches., eventually developing into a formal inquiry about the philosophical underpinnings of the postmodern psychotherapy movement.[cite]. Held's more recent work has broadened this lens beyond psychotherapy to encompass the field of psychology as a whole, including attendant philosophy-of-science issues. In Psychology's Interpretive Turn (2007)[cite], she examined—and at times criticized—recent efforts by theoretical psychologists to balance the shortcomings of both postmodern and overly positivist, scientistic accounts of human nature with so-called "middle-ground" theories designed to preserve aspects of both.[cite]